Raayan, Amaran and Maharaja: Tamil cinema's nine-award National night

The 72nd National Film Awards, announced in New Delhi on July 18 for films certified in 2024, sent the top prize to a Hindi feature and the loudest applause south. Article 370 was named Best Feature Film, and Dhanush walked away with two very different pieces of recognition on the same afternoon: a Best Tamil Film award for directing Raayan, and a Special Mention for his acting in Captain Miller. Across five features, Tamil cinema collected nine honours, more than any other language outside the winners’ circle at the very top.

The feature-film jury was chaired by filmmaker Jayaraj, with separate panels under Aseem Sinha for non-feature films and A. Chandrasekhar for writing on cinema. Here is how the day broke down.

The headline awards

Kartik Aaryan’s shared Best Actor is his first National Award, and he shares it with Mammootty, whose folk-horror turn in Bramayugam gave the veteran one of his most talked-about performances in years. Yami Gautam and Article 370 took Best Actress and Best Feature Film, making the political thriller the night’s biggest single title on the national stage. Nag Ashwin’s Kalki 2898 AD was rewarded for scale and reach with the Best Popular Film prize, and it picked up Best Production Design on top.

Tamil cinema’s tally

The most decorated Tamil film of the year was Amaran, Rajkumar Periasamy’s account of Major Mukund Varadarajan, which took three awards including the all-India Best Direction prize, not merely a regional one.

Amaran’s three:

• Best Direction for Rajkumar Periasamy
• Best Music Direction (Background Music) for G.V. Prakash Kumar
• Best Editing for R. Kalaivannan

Periasamy said he had not gone into Amaran expecting a National Award, and that winning the overall Best Direction category across Indian cinema meant he could move forward with more confidence. He added that Mukund Varadarajan’s mother had told him, well before the results, that the film would win.

Vijay Sethupathi’s Maharaja was the other multiple winner, taking two: Sachana Namidass shared Best Supporting Actress, and Anl Arasu won Best Action Direction for its stunt choreography.

The full Tamil count across the feature categories:

A tenth honour arrived in the non-feature section, where the Tamil short Blue won Best Sound Design for T. S. Hari Hara Sudhan.

What Dhanush and G.V. Prakash said

Dhanush had the strangest kind of afternoon, honoured as a director for one film and as an actor for another. In a public note he wrote:

I’m truly humbled and overwhelmed to have received the National Award for Best Regional Film for Raayan and the Special Mention for Captain Miller. This is my third National Award as an actor and my first as a director. A first is always unforgettable, and winning my very first National Award as a director is a blessing I will cherish forever.

On the acting nod, he added that the Captain Miller recognition was especially close to him because he had always believed it to be his finest performance to date. Arun Matheswaran, who directed Captain Miller, noted that the film had not travelled the way the team hoped commercially, and that the award was proof the effort had been worth it.

G.V. Prakash Kumar’s Best Background Music award for Amaran is his third National Award for music. He wrote:

I am deeply humbled and immensely grateful to receive the 72nd National Film Award for Amaran. Winning this honour for the third time is truly a blessing, and I accept it with a heart full of gratitude. This award belongs as much to each one of you as it does to me.

He thanked the Amaran team and, speaking soon after the news, called the result surreal, saying the film had in a way given him everything.

Regional Best Film winners

Away from the technical categories, each language named its own Best Film. The full slate:

Music, writing and craft

The technical awards spread widely across the country’s film industries:

• Best Music Direction (Songs): Shashwat Sachdev, Article 370
• Best Male Playback: Abhay Jodhpurkar, Navasachi Gauri Mazi from Gharat Ganpati (Marathi)
• Best Female Playback: Vaikom Vijayalakshmi, Angu Vaana Konilu from A.R.M. (Malayalam)
• Best Lyrics: Manoj Muntashir, Jaane Do from Maidaan
• Best Cinematography: Shehnad Jalal, Bramayugam
• Best Original Screenplay: Bandreddi Sukumar, Pushpa 2: The Rule
• Best Adapted Screenplay: Yogesh Deshpande, Swargandharva Sudhir Phadke
• Best Dialogue: Venky Atluri, Lucky Baskhar
• Best Costume Design: Deepali Noor and Sheetal Sharma, Pushpa 2: The Rule
• Best Production Design: Nitin Zihani Choudhary, Kalki 2898 AD
• Best Sound Design: Manas Choudhury, Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3
• Best Make-up: P. Ravi Kumar, Committee Kurrollu
• Best Choreography: Vijay Ganguly, Aaj Ki Raat from Stree 2

In the writing categories, Sanjeev Shrivastava was named Best Film Critic, and Kenchanuru Pradeep Kumar Shetty won Best Book on Cinema for his Kannada study of the philosophy and politics of the state’s cinema.

Non-feature highlights

• Best Non-Feature Film: Bhangaar
• Best Direction (non-feature): Aanand L. Rai, Statue of Unity: Ekta ka Prateek
• Best Documentary: Ram-Nami
• Best Short Film: Hamsafar
• Best Animation Film: Touched as Water
• Best Debut Film of a Director: Ravi Raj Murmu, Angen

One award still to come

The Dadasaheb Phalke lifetime-achievement honour was not part of the July 18 announcement, and no recipient for the year was named; it is chosen by a separate committee and declared on its own timeline. For Tamil cinema, though, the numbers on the day speak plainly: a Best Direction winner, three music and craft honours, a Best Tamil Film, and a lead actor who managed to be recognised twice over for two entirely different jobs.